A Wild Thing
by TheCatalystx
Summary: "But they weren't out there that long. The longer they're out there, the more they become what they really are." – Daryl Dixon. Starts in season 5. Katherine Rhee is Glenn's older sister. Like her brother, she tries her best to see the good in people, but even she has her limits, and those limits are sorely tested in the months following their welcome to Alexandria.


**_(A/N): I know, I know. ANOTHER Walking Dead fic from me. But the new season's got me FRUS-TRATE-D. Also, I really liked the idea of Glenn having a sister - and not just any sister, but an older one. Probably like three or four years older than Glenn? A little younger than Andrea, if she was still around. A kind sister, to counteract the intense shit-storm happening in season seven. This starts in season five but I could easily see it moving rapidly to season seven in, like, a few chapters, if that's the way it needs to go._**

 ** _So I started writing. And then this story was born. I really love the characters and the way the plot is turning out, but I have no idea if anyone is even interested in it. If it doesn't get much of a response I might not continue, so if you like it and you want to see more, review!_**

* * *

 **A Wild Thing**

"Where is the sun,

That shone on my head?

The sun in my life...

It is dead

It is dead."

* * *

 _Chapter One_

"Is this really necessary?" She asked, stumbling as the person leading her carelessly guided her straight over a fallen log without warning. "Hey!"

Her hands were bound and her eyes blindfolded, giving him ample control of the situation. "Quiet!" He ordered, harshly. "Do you want someone to hear you?"

Bemused, she paused and stared in the direction of his voice. "… _Yes!"_

He shoved at her shoulder, causing her to stumble again, and they continued down a hill. It would have been easier—they likely would have even gotten a little bit farther—had he just taken the care to describe the surroundings they tread to keep her from almost face planting every other step. They might have even made it all the way to the cabin.

But no. He didn't trust her. He's made that much clear.

"I knew it," He babbled quietly in her ear as they went. "I knew from the second you and your group showed up that you couldn't be trusted. Everyone else said, give them a chance. Yeah? _Now_ look what you've done."

"We're trying to help you people!" She burst. "You have _no idea_ —"

"Oh, shut up!" He hissed, and pushed at her shoulder again, this time not to get her to move, but to get her to stop. His hands were soft, but as he grew more agitated his violence escalated. Soon it would be time for her to respond.

She intended to try and do everything she could to avoid that. Kate didn't enjoy killing; particularly not the living. She'd only done that one other time.

"I am so _sick_ of hearing that," He told her. "Do you know how sick I am of hearing that? It's all you people can talk about! Like we don't already know it's hell out there. Like we're just a bunch of floating airheads who are completely oblivious to everything outside our happy bubble. Well guess what?" He came close enough to hers for his breath to fan across her face, smelling faintly of coffee. "That's _why_ we're there! That's why we live in Alexandria, asswipe. Because in there, at least we don't have to constantly look over our shoulders. At least we can relax!"

And then, in a fit of rage, he shoved her again, hard enough to knock her off balance. The leaves and foliage provided little padding as she crashed into the forest floor, and he seemed surprised and immediately regretful.

"Shit!" He exclaimed. "Shit, sorry!"

Kate didn't waste time in rolling onto her back, gasping through the stinging, aching pain that radiated from her chin to her jaw and in her chest from landing face-first on the cold, unforgiving ground.

"Kate, I didn't mean to," He admitted, trying to help her up.

Kate flinched defensively when his fingers touched her upper arm, and he finally grew quiet as he retreated. Huffing, she shook her head. "It doesn't have to be this way," She told him. "It's not too late. They don't have to know—no one has to know! I won't say anything to Rick, I—"

"No," He stated, his tone firm and resolved. "This is the only way, Kate." And then he grabbed at her arm again and hauled her up. "Get up," He uselessly told her, his voice cold and detached once again. "Don't say another fucking word."

His grip on her arm was tight and bruising. They must have been getting close, because his pace had quickened and he practically dragged her along now. Her limbs felt abused and her chin still stung, but it was nothing she couldn't ignore. It was nothing compared to the pain she'd endured in the months leading her to this point, to Alexandria, and now to her abduction.

But she didn't believe her captor was a bad person. He was just confused, and scared, and he blamed her group for all the intimidating changes. In a lot of ways she couldn't blame him. Rick wasn't exactly inspiring confidence with the way he swaggered around, and the Alexandrians would have to be truly blind to not see how helpless her group thought they were.

There was a crash nearby. Close, but not on top of them. It sounded like it came from somewhere up ahead of them, to her right. It sounded like something falling down into the leaves and then snarling. A walker. It was headed their way now.

He cursed and his grip, if anything, tightened on her arm. She gasped at the pain and tried to squirm away. "Cole," She finally said, using his name directly. "You have to untie me and let me help!"

"No," He said. "Come on, this way! Change of plans!"

He turned her around and hurried her along. The walker was still pursuing them from behind. It grew more and more frenzied, as they tend to do, and Kate felt the familiar tickle of panic starting in the pit of her stomach.

"Cole, listen to me!" She tried, but then something else happened. She couldn't see what but she heard more walkers now. At least two more, and she knew the situation was becoming precarious. They were running out of time. "There's too many!" She said, and for a moment he seemed to listen. "Not even Daryl would try to take on that many by himself!"

A lie, of course. A calculated risk, her father would call it. The Alexandrians watched him because Daryl seeped the essence of danger. She would bet her left arm that they thought he was savage even before the apocalypse; that he was born that way. And they wouldn't be wrong, really.

"You're lying," Cole finally decided, and then they really were out of time. One of the walkers was on him now, ramming into him as it hungrily tried to wrestle him close enough to sink its teeth into his flesh. She didn't have to see to know that.

Kate, in a split decision, decided to make a break for it. "Come on!" She hollered, unable to see if he listened because she was still blindfolded. She left him there and turned to run in the other direction. Cole yelled at her—called for help. Already, he was in too deep. But her offer of assistance expired about twenty seconds ago; he rejected it when it was still valid.

Cole had kidnapped her, possibly to make an example of her, or possibly in some sort of deluded heroic fantasy. "Cole!" She yelled, coming to a stop when she didn't hear footsteps pursuing her. Only the sounds of the insatiable undead answered. They were excited, manic, and it was too loud to hear much else around them.

"Cole?" She asked, guilt and worry seeping into her bones. Because she didn't want this. At first she ran out of survival instinct, accustomed to the ones in her group who naturally would have followed her. She didn't anticipate that he might stay behind and actually try to take them on. He would be killed. And despite his instance otherwise, she thought he knew that.

Suddenly, from the center of the noise she heard someone fleeing. They were headed straight for her. She backed up a step, surprised, and was too slow to move out of the way when they grabbed her arm to yank her along.

"Come on!" Cole yelled, dragging her behind him. "Hurry!"

"What happened?" She asked, and he panted as he answered.

"No time!"

"Cole!" she insisted, fighting him to try and make them stop. "Were you bitten?"

"There's no time!" He said again, pulling at her urgently, and she felt a cold dread well up.

Finally, she stopped resisting. She didn't get very far before she ran into a tree, of course. She dodged around it and continued forward.

Something collided with her and threw her to the ground. Kate grunted with effort as she resisted the weight of the thing, quickly identifying it as a living thing. She kicked her feet and thrashed wildly, trying to throw it off of her.

"Help!" She screamed. "I can't see!" With one of her legs free, she pulled her knee up against her chest and managed to push her foot between the body and herself and she shoved roughly. It fell to the side, not completely off of her, but freeing her just enough to sit up and scramble back.

The walker was yanked up slightly and she heard the squelch of a blade sinking into its head, and the walker fell limply against her. Kate yelped and tried, unsuccessfully, to roll out from under it.

Suddenly the weight of the corpse was lifted and she tried to scramble out of reach. "Cole—stop!" She exclaimed. "Wait a minute—"

A hand reached down to yank her blindfold off and she squinted up.

"Glenn!" She gasped, and then let her head fall back in relief. "Oh," she sighed. "Oh, thank God!"

"Are you okay?" He asked, as he immediately helped her to her feet.

"Yeah," She said. "I—I mean, basically, in an overall sense, I'm not dead so—but I was kidnapped, so—"

"Kate," Glenn pressed, taking her by the shoulders to look her in the eyes. "Are you okay?"

Swallowing, she took a moment. "Yes," She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good." He turned to something behind him. There, lay Cole, knocked out cold on the ground.

"Did you do that?" Kate balked. Glenn looked at her in surprise and then frowned.

"I thought you did!"

"Me?" She shook her bound hands behind her back. "How!?"

"I don't know!" He exclaimed, taking a step back. "A head butt? It wouldn't be the first time—"

"Glenn," She said, impatient as she tried to redirect their attention to the unconscious boy on the ground. "What do we do with him?"

Glenn looked like he wanted to say, _nothing_. Like he wanted to leave the boy there, let him wake up and fend for himself. For a second she thought he would. He looked at her. "Come here," He told her.

She turned around so that he could cut the zipties from her wrists.

Cole had been taking her to a secluded cabin that wasn't too far from Alexandria. Glenn knew where to find them because they had both heard Cole speak of the place soon after they arrived in the community. At the time, Cole talked about it like it was a secret outpost that he'd discovered. Like they should be impressed with him. They weren't, but they'd pretended like they were.

As soon as her hands were free she rubbed at the raw, chaffed skin of her wrists, staring down at Cole's face. His t-shirt and jeans were dirty now, and he had a bleeding wound on the left side of his temple.

"Help me with him," She told Glenn, who looked surprised as he watched her move towards the thin boy. Cole was young. Younger than her, but she wasn't sure if he was younger than Glenn. She bent down to lift his arms, searching for any other injuries. There were no obvious marks on his limbs but when she lifted his shirt to check his torso Glenn spoke up.

"What are you doing?" He asked, and then stopped short when they spotted it. A mark, there on his torso. Remorse flooded Kate and she had to take a minute before she could respond to Glenn when he asked if it was a bite.

"It... it sort of looks like one, right?" She asked, uncertainly. Kate turned to look at her brother and he was equally conflicted. The question silently raised between them, again. To take him back, or leave him? The siblings looked at each other, taking in the other's expression, and reached a mutual decision.

Glenn came to help her, as they both knew he would. Even if she hadn't made the decision for him, she knew that her brother would have chosen to bring Cole back. That's just the way they were.

In the end, they left the spot in those woods with Cole slung over Glenn's shoulders.

"Why would he do this?" Glenn asked. "He seemed so!..." He trailed off, unable to find the words.

Before this, Cole was eager to prove himself. He thought he was above his Alexandrian peers, and at first he was almost like an enthusiastic fan boy of theirs. He had immediately developed a crush on Kate, sticking close to her like a shadow to pepper her with questions of her experiences outside the walls and even her life before the outbreak.

Something changed when he found out about the guns. He discovered their plot the night of the party…

* * *

 ** _The Night of Deanna's Welcome Party..._**

Kate turned away from the table full of beverages. It practically overflowed with alcohol, and she felt strange holding a chilled, full beer in her hand.

Soft classical music played. _Music_. Night had fallen because it was dark outside, but the lights were on in the house. The power worked here within the walls of Alexandria. Showers ran water, _hot_ water, and ovens baked the potato puffs and cookies that filled the platters on the clothed tables nearby.

It was like a step into the past, and at the same time it wasn't. Instead of a step backward it felt more like… a step to the side. And people stood around laughing, chatting, munching on party snacks, and the whole scene felt… _fake,_ to Kate.

It felt staged. Oh, it had all the hallmarks of a welcome-to-the-neighborhood party that the world before used to have… awkward small talk, a veggie tray, and that one guest who was pressuring everyone to play a round of charades. Except this one was hollow, empty, like they were all playing house or awkwardly acting out a script.

"Hey, Kat," Glenn greeted, and she turned in dramatic relief to find her brother and Maggie standing behind her. They seemed amused at her reaction and she kept a low tone as she spoke.

"Does this feel strange to you?" She asked, insecure. "It feels strange to me."

"Well, what did you expect?" Maggie grinned. "A week ago we were running from cannibals and now we're…" She paused to gesture to the gathering, the sounds of the party taking over again. "At a block party."

"Yeah," Kate sighed. "Exactly!"

"I guess we should try to make the best of it," Glenn suggested with a resigned shrug, and while Maggie smiled fondly at him, Kate took a long swig of her beer.

She smacked her lips and shook her head. "This is crazy," She said, and then looked around. "Where's Rosita and Abraham? I wanna play some poker."

"Uh—they're over there, but do you even have cards?" Glenn pointed over to the far edge of the room where the couple was stuck like glue to the wall, scowling at everyone as they attempted to look comfortable.

"Let me just ask our illustrious hostess," Kate smartly suggested with a grand wave of her beer. "Deanna!" She called, capturing the attention of the older woman without much of an effort. Most of the guests turned to look as well while the smaller, dark haired woman wove her way through the crowd asking after a deck of cards.

Deanna laughed jovially and looked at someone in the room. Farther off, crowded together, stood a small group of teenage boys. Carl was among them and he looked to Kate in question as Deanna addressed one of the other boys. "Ron! Bring that deck of cards over, I think we're going to start a game of poker!"

The teenagers exchanged shrugs, checking that there were no objections before Ron collected the cards from everyone's hands and made his way over. He was maybe around Carl's age, and he had naturally rosy cheeks that gave him an even more youthful appearance as he came closer. His eyes lingered on Kate and he cleared his throat, his cheeks singeing as he handed the deck to Deanna. "We get to play, right?" He asked, holding the deck out of reach at the last second.

Deanna studied him with raised eyebrows and after a moment she scoffed softly and grinned. "Why don't you ask Kate?" She suggested, looking at the dark haired young woman with one of those charmed smiles reserved for adults to share when a child was being amusing. "It was her idea."

Kate raised her chin and waited for the boy to ask. Ron mimicked her, lifting his chin as he asked her. "So?" He prompted. "What do you say? Can me and the others join?"

Kate smiled warmly. "Well I can't see why not," She told him, looking at Carl. "I bet you boys have unflinching poker faces."

Carl allowed a slight grin to play at his lips and another, lankier boy swatted at his arm in panic, urgently whispering something to him. His expression melted to annoyance as he looked back at the boy and remarked something in return, leaving the boy gaping after him as he came to join.

"So it's settled," Deanna decreed. "A poker game with three players?" She tutted and looked around the party. "I think we can do better than that… And chips! We'll need chips, of course. As a matter of fact, Reg, I think you have a set up in the study don't you?"

"Of course," He confirmed. "I'm always up for a game of Texas Hold'em."

"I'll deal if you recruit more to play," she told Deanna, and before long, they had a table cleared off and a rather large group of people ready to start. Most of them were a little unsure of themselves, but there were a few, like Abraham and Kate, who were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

"Now it's a party!" Abraham exclaimed, rubbing his hands together readily once all the cards were out. "Hah!" And before anyone could even try to suggest what they would use in place of money, Abraham shoved his whole pile of chips toward Kate. "All in, nuts out," He smugly declared, his mustache twitching under his smirk.

"Nuts _in_ ," Kate warned, leveling him with a finger and narrowed eyes that caused Abraham to grim shamelessly. "This isn't strip poker. There are children present."

"Uh," Ron interrupted, looking around the table with his cheeks tingeing red again. "S-Strip poker?"

The table erupted into laughter and Kate shook her head good-naturedly as she started, blatantly ignoring the boy's piqued interest.

Rosita slid forward a portion of her chips with a confident expression, leaning casually on her elbow. She didn't say a word but she looked at everyone with a calculating gaze, trying to get a read on them before the game really started.

And around the table they went. Tensions rose, most folded, and in the end, Reg emerged victorious. Surprisingly Abraham wasn't a sore loser. Oh, he made a rather loud, colorful exclamation about 'losin' harder than a priest's prick.' He shook Reg's hand, but not without promising a rematch.

Kate was still grinning after Rosita left her with a challenge to actually play instead of deal next time.

"How are you always the one to bring people together?" Maggie chuckled.

But Kate looked somewhat dejected, as she glanced around the party that was mostly empty by now. "It didn't work as well as I hoped it might," she admitted. "You noticed that the only ones from our group to join were Abraham and Rosita, right? I mean, could they at least _pretend_ to make an effort…"

Offering the only comfort she could, Maggie rubbed her back with familial warmth. "It's just gonna take some time," she reassured her in her thick southern twang. "For all of us."

"Maybe it's like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole," Kate sighed, downing the last of her beer and setting it down onto a table with a resounding thud. "Senseless and uncomfortable."

Before Maggie could respond, Rick caught Kate's attention with a wave. She touched Maggie's shoulder and mustered up a grin to assuage some of the concern she saw on her sister-in-law's face as she stepped away.

"You came!" Cole, the wiry young boy, stepped in front of her. He was older than Carl, with chubby cheeks, lips that were too big for his face and a cleft chin. Kate pressed a hand to her chest as her heart raced and she forced a smile. "You look like you ran out of beer."

She took the proffered beverage and slid a furtive glance over the top of Cole's head, signaling Rick to wait. The man stepped back into a corner of the party, disappearing through a door, and Kate looked at the bottle in her hands. She resisted the urge to ask if Cole was even old enough to drink alcohol, spying the matching drink in his hand.

He was grinning widely at her. "Man, I sure am sorry I was late," He lamented with a regretful grin. "I've always wanted to try poker. I think I'd be pretty good at it; I've always been good at lying. What about you? Have you played a lot?" He asked, conversationally.

"Uh—" she looked back at the door Rick had gone through and, as she had done to Maggie, she touched his shoulder and stepped around him. "How about I teach you sometime?" Kate suggested.

"That would be great!" Cole exclaimed. He moved to follow her and she put her hand up in a dismissing wave.

"Great!" She hollowly echoed, though he was oblivious to its lack of sincerity. "It's a date."

She turned away and set determinedly through the crowd. Most of her group had already left for the night, including her brother and Maggie. Only Rick and Michonne remained, clustered together on the patio and waiting for Kate to join them.

"She left about twenty minutes ago," Michonne told her. Her voice was low and familiar, the night air warm and sticky, and it cleared Kate out of that haze that the beer and party clouded her mind in.

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Good. If anyone can get there without being seen, it's Carol. She's just another Stepford Wife around here."

"You know Deanna is going to take an interest in you," Michonne advised. "She made me and Rick constables. She'll come for you soon, especially after that stunt with the poker game."

"Good," Kate acknowledged with a snort. "Maybe she'll make me a politician."

Michonne seemed thoughtful as she looked her over. "Actually…"

Frowning, Kate scowled at Michonne. "I was joking, Mickey."

"Hey!" She laughed, putting her hands up in surKateder. "You're the one who suggested it!"

Kate looked to Rick, but his gaze kept sticking just over her shoulder, and when she tried to see what he saw all she came up with was a blonde Alexandrian woman laughing with Ron and a child. She touched the youngest's head and they seemed to decide to take their leave from the party, heading towards the front door.

But then the woman's eyes slid secretively over to Rick's and she offered him a warm smile, and suddenly Kate understood. She and Michonne exchanged a knowing look and Kate rolled her eyes.

"Okay," Kate said, grabbing his attention. "We'll reconvene after we hear from her. For now, let's get back in there before they notice us out here and send someone in."

After they went back into the party, they scattered. Kate played nice with a woman who asked her what her favorite meal was. She didn't think that way anymore, not really, and the question had taken her by surprise. She ended up saying something like pizza, purely on instinct, and found that the notion was surprisingly enticing. Her brother would have laughed.

She was nursing her fourth beer when Cole approached her the next time.

"You know, if you're trying to lay low, you better stop standing like that."

Kate frowned at the suggestive comment and pushed away from the bookcase she had been leaning her elbow against, pulling her attention away from the miniature globe she dreamily spun with her finger.

Before, it would take her about five or six beers to really feel the effects. Now, her cheeks are heated and her filter is dangerously delayed. "Excuse me?"

Cole seemed to lose some of his confidence, and his smirk cracked as he blinked and glanced away. He cleared his throat. "I, uh, just meant that you… look ready to go home."

"Home?" She asked with a confused frown, and then blinked sluggishly as her brain caught up. "Oh, yes… _home_."

Cole looked around before offering to walk her home.

"It's alright," She said, patting his shoulder in a friendly manner. "You're a good kid, but I _don't_ need an escort."

And as he sputtered out a reply that struggled to not be insulting or demeaning, he trailed after her. She grabbed a doorknob and Cole's hand covered hers. Kate tried to pull her hand away but the kid was quick, and he turned her around before she even realized what was happening. "That's the bathroom," He told her, steering her through the dining room and back towards the front door.

Someone called after them in concern and Kate craned her neck to see who it was, but Cole answered on her behalf.

"Yeah, Deanna! I know, she's staying in the house with Carol, right?" He

Carol, she wondered how Carol was doing.

"I'm sure she's fine," Cole told her.

Kate frowned. "Who?"

"Carol," Cole said, looking her over in amusement. "Watch your step," He added, his hand at her arm to steady her as he helped her down the front steps.

"Shouldn't have had so much to drink," She belatedly realized with a scoff. "Who gets _wasted_ in an apocalypse?"

"Hey, well, you're in Alexandria, now. You're safe." Cole assured. He walked beside her, allowing her to slowly meander down the sidewalk on her own.

"That's—uh…" She looked down at the way the pavement blurred as she walked. "What were we talking about?"

"Alexandria, I think," He supplied, pointing her to take a left turn.

Kate whistled lowly. "What a place, this community!" She exclaimed, putting her hands to the sky. "Look!" She pointed up at the stars and looked at Cole. "I can do this…"

Concentrating deeply, Kate put her right foot forward with her instep facing out, and her left leg back with her instep facing out, in the open fourth position. She held her head high and without warning, she twirled in a stuttering pirouette. Cole hurried forward to catch her, but found that it was unnecessary because she danced away with a giggle.

"Thank you," Kate grandly said to him, going down into a curtsy. "I used to be a dancer," She explained, bouncing to the next subject with ease as she continued down the sidewalk. Cole followed behind, mesmerized and somewhat baffled by the woman.

"Dancer? Like, ballet?"

"Yes, exactly," She nodded. "I used to be better. My instructor would've cried to see that execution."

"I used to be the wide receiver for my high school football team," He admitted, and then grew quiet as he reflected. "I had a full ride to the University of Virginia."

Feeling sad, she shook her head and sighed. "I don't know why we torture ourselves like this," She grimly admitted. "We can't go back."

"Sometimes Mikey and Ron play football with me after lunch," He told her, offering a wistful smile tinged with sorrow. "It's not a team and it's not on a field, but… it's always the highlight of my week. That's the sort of thing you can get away with, here. You can dance, too, probably. It's not all gloom and doom."

Kate's face darkened as her mind went back to all the people she's lost. To Hershel, and Andrea and even Shane. And Tyreese. With a heavy heart, she shook her head. "It's not all gloom and doom out there, either. I met my family out there."

"Your group?" He corrected, and Kate shook her head.

"We're more than that. They're my family. We take care of each other. Watch each other's backs."

"But family is blood," Cole clarified with a frown.

Kate frowned back, looking the boy from Alexandria over. "That's a cold way to live your life," She told him, as an outsider looking in, as someone who felt like an alien in a utopia.

He seemed surprised and shook his head. "That's not what I meant—"

"Sometimes—" she started, her throat growing thick. Kate looked down before she changed the subject. "Thank you for seeing me home, but I think I can make it to the door."

He shrugged. "We're already here," He said. "And it's on my way. What do you want me to do, turn around?"

She wanted to say yes. She wanted to tell him to eff off, to go glue himself to someone else's side. But, deep down, Kate was kind, and the child had done nothing more than annoy her, which didn't warrant a rude dismissal like that. So she just continued on and allowed him to stay next to her.

When they reached her front door, he commented on how dark it was inside. "I thought Carol left hours before you did," He noticed with a somewhat suspicious expression. "Where did she go?"

"Maybe she's asleep," Kate dodged. "It's late."

Cole had nothing to say to refute that. He accepted it, and as Kate finally opened the front door and stepped inside, he said, "Oh, I uh… don't suppose it would be a bother for me to use your bathroom really quick, would it?"

Alarm bells went off in Kate's head. She looked outside down the street, which was empty, and most the houses had their lights turned out by now, porch lights included. The shadows cast across Cole's face made him look diffeKatet, where he stood directly under their porch light. He seemed ominous, somehow.

"Does yours not work right now?" She asked, suspicious.

"It does, it's just two blocks over, but I went once back at the party and you know how it is when you drink," He smiled. "Once you break that seal and go the first time…"

She caught his drift. It's why she'd been denying herself the use of a bathroom until she got back to her house. "Sure," She finally said, seeing no reason to deny him that courtesy, because it could only cause problems in the future if he was petty enough to hold it against her—which he definitely seemed the type.

"Is it just through here?"

"Yeah," She waved, absently, already moving towards the couch. She collapsed against it and closed her eyes.

She must have drifted off, because when she awoke she saw Carol standing in the open doorway of the house with a bulging bag in her hand and a tight smile on her face. Cole stood in the hallway with a stricken expression.

Kate rocketed from the couch and almost fell back over, woozy from the drink, and she put her arms out to catch her balance. "Carol!" She exclaimed, her heart thundering in her chest as she eyed the bag in her friend's hand and realized what might be happening. "Did you get the chocolate?"

"Kate," Carol said, in that fake, polite, sugary voice. "You look exhausted. Why don't you head on up to bed, and I'll see Cole out?"

Cole looked absolutely scandalized, his eyes practically begging her not to leave. But Carol had a meaningful expression in her eyes, the shadow of the truth hidden in her eyes, and Kate knew that he had somehow figured out what Carol had in the bag and would have to be dealt with accordingly.

She knew no one to be more intimidating than Carol. She also knew Carol tended to kill people she thought a lost cause in the name of protecting the group. And, well, Cole was nice, and young, and simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Cole, I think it's time for you to leave." Kate's voice was hard, and confident. There was no trace of drunken foolishness and she left no room for debate. Cole didn't need to be told twice, scurrying for the door.

Carol stepped in his path, that signature deceptive eerie, calmness exuding from the woman as she focused her eyes on Kate. "Kate, Cole and I need to take a walk."

"No," Kate said. "You really don't."

Cole looked between them with wide eyes, looking every part the frightened boy. "L-Look, whatever is going on—" One glare from Carol, and his mouth clamped shut tighter than a clam.

"Kate…" Carol warned. "I'm serious."

"Let me handle it," she appealed, and then looked to Cole. "You'll listen to me, right?"

He nodded like a bobble head.

Kate lifted her chin and looked back at Carol, the hem of her dress tickling her knees. "I can handle it," She said.

Carol focused on Cole, looking him over like she was examining a specimen for dissection. "You'd better," She ominously advised. And then she smiled cheerily and stepped around Cole. "Goodnight!"

As soon as Carol was out of sight, Cole deflated and grabbed the back of his neck in exclamation. "Holy shit!" He started, as Kate pushed him onto the front porch and shut the door behind them.

"Shut up," Kate hissed, and he grew quiet as she brushed past him.

"What—"

"I _said_ be quiet," Kate cut back, adding, "please," almost as an afterthought.

For a long while, she just paced the porch, her mind racing. Cole shifted uncomfortably and sighed frequently, looking like he was dying to comment. Finally Kate said, "This is what's going to happen—"

Cole opened his mouth and then stopped when Kate put her hand up.

"You were right. This place, it—it's got potential. It can be a home to us, to all of us. But it's gonna take _time_ for my group to realize that. We can't go from living how we lived—doing what we did? What we had to do, in order to survive?" Kate shook her head. "The people we lost…"

She looked down at the porch and quietly continued. "We can't just give up our weapons," She said. "Not after all that. It's— _hard_ to trust people. Anyone. We need time. I swear: the only reason we want our guns is for protection. Because nowhere is safe, not anymore. Not even here."

"But it _is_ —"

"It's not," Kate asserted, shaking her head. "But it can be, in time. That's all we need. Time."

Cole stayed quiet, absorbing her words. "I'm not sober enough for this," He admitted, turning away to press his face into his hands. "This isn't happening!"

"This isn't what you need to be worried about," She told him, going to touch his shoulder and turn him around. Kate fixed him with a serious expression. "I know in here, behind these walls, you feel safe! It feels like… the closest you can get to the real thing," She explained, and Cole focused on her intently, her words striking a cord with him. "But it's not the real thing. And now more than ever, we need a way to defend ourselves. Trust me, just when you get settled, just when you kick back and get comfortable, that's when shit hits the fan," She promised. "That's when everything will fall apart. And we can be here for that. We just—need the guns."

"And that's it?" He asked, skeptically, suddenly passionate as he tilted his head at her and pressured her to answer. "That's all you need? Guns? You won't try to take control?"

Kate hesitated, glancing away as her mind sprang to Rick.

"It's—that's—complicated—if Rick and Deanna can come to an agreement—"

"Protection?" Cole concluded, and Kate latched onto that as she nodded. "You want the guns, not for control, but for protection?" He clarified.

She nodded, though a shadow of a doubt lingered in her mind. "That's all we want," She said. "I swear."

* * *

 _ **Present...**_

"I know it sounds crazy, but he's not a bad person," Kate told her brother.

Glenn looked at her in disbelief. "Kate, do you even know what he planned to do to you out there?"

She hesitated, looking down at the ground as they stepped over the foliage. "…No," she reluctantly admitted, and Glenn looked away with a breath of condemnation that Kate tried to alleviate. "Listen to me, little brother," she stopped him by the shoulder and he sighed as he glared at her.

Kate looked at Cole, where he hung limply over Glenn's shoulder, his usually neat, short blonde hair hanging down and stained with blood and dirt.

"We can't leave him here. And we can't hold this against him. This isn't the end for him," She said to Glenn. "Trust me."

Glenn clenched his jaw and shook his head. "That doesn't mean I have to trust _him_."

She smiled shrewdly. "No," She agreed. "I guess it doesn't. But I do."

Glenn scoffed and stepped around her to continue the rest of the trek back. "You're crazy," He told her, and after they got a little farther, he said, "What are we gonna tell the others?"

"We're gonna tell them the truth," she said. "Or, at least Deanna. These people think we're savages that lost touch with who we used to be, that we're nothing like them because of what we've been through, and our people think the Alexandrians are incapable of doing anything remotely brave. Cole proves them both wrong."

Glenn, though unhappy and appearing unconvinced, grudgingly agreed. "Alright," He relented. "If you say so."

"I know so," She grinned, making her brother shake his head in wonder. A walker came through the trees a safe distance away, but it caught their scent and was slowly meandering in their general direction. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Glenn navigated their way back to Alexandria. They decided to take the front gate, though Kate was fairly certain he had a secret escape that he led her through to leave. As soon as they were back on the main road, they were spotted.

They could hear Sasha calling down to someone passing by the gate. Glenn sighed and drew to a stop, his feet scraping the pavement as he tried not to sway under Cole's weight. "God," He grunted. "His weight is deceiving! I think he weighs, like, at least one eighty."

"He was a football player," Kate absently explained, going to pound on the gate as the others made their way down to let them in. She did a double take at the expression on her brother's face. "What?" She asked, self-consciously.

"Nothing," Glenn said, though something in his face had changed. "Just… nothing."

They didn't have the chance to explore the topic any further because the gate was pulled open. A man she didn't recognize was frowning at them. He was tall, taller than Glenn, and therefore he loomed way over Kate who was pretty short in stature.

"What happened?" He asked, without preamble. "Is he alive?"

She felt a sarcastic response well up, but she tamped it back. Would they have brought him back otherwise? "Unconscious," she said, though an explanation seemed unnecessary, and her face must have expressed as much because the man's face hardened slightly. Still, he didn't step aside.

He looked them over suspiciously. "How did you get out?" He asked.

"Spencer!" Deanna called, and then when she caught sight of Kate, Glenn and Cole she stopped in her tracks and gawked. "Oh, my," She said, quietly.

Kate glanced at the man— _Spencer_ —and noticed how he closely watched Deanna's reaction, as though he intended to take her lead on the situation.

"Spencer, help him! Quick!" Deanna hurried forward with a troubled face and when she was close to Kate she took her by the shoulders, drawing her into the community. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"We need to talk," Kate said, looking back at her brother who was maneuvering Cole off his shoulders with Spencer's help. "Alone."


End file.
